Related papers: Coherent photon manipulation in interacting atomic…
Strong light-matter coupling gives rise to polaritons - hybrid excitations whose mixed photonic and matter character enables control over optical, electronic and chemical properties. This Feature Article surveys the main architectures…
By mapping the strong interaction between Rydberg excitations in ultra-cold atomic ensembles onto single photons via electromagnetically induced transparency, it is now possible to realize a nonlinear optical medium which exhibits a strong…
Strong interaction between two single photons is a long standing and important goal in quantum photonics. This would enable a new regime of nonlinear optics and unlock several applications in quantum information science, including photonic…
We show that photons propagating through a Rydberg-dressed atomic ensemble can exchange its spin state with a single atom. Such a spin-exchange collision exhibits both dissipative and coherent features, depending on the interaction…
Rydberg blockade physics in optically dense atomic media under the conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) leads to strong dissipative interactions between single photons. We introduce a new approach to analyzing this…
We experimentally study the effects of the anisotropic Rydberg-interaction on $D$-state Rydberg polaritons slowly propagating through a cold atomic sample. In addition to the few-photon nonlinearity known from similar experiments with…
The formation of hybrid light-molecule states (polaritons) offers a new strategy to manipulate the photochemistry of molecules. To fully exploit its potential, one needs to build a toolbox of polaritonic phenomenologies that supplement…
We demonstrate a cooperative optical non-linearity caused by dipolar interactions between Rydberg atoms in an ultra-cold atomic ensemble. By coupling a probe transition to the Rydberg state we map the strong dipole-dipole interactions…
Optical non-linearities at the single-photon level are key ingredients for future photonic quantum technologies. Prime candidates for the realization of strong photon-photon interactions necessary for implementing quantum information…
Optically trapped Rydberg atoms are a suitable platform to explore quantum many-body physics mediated by long-range atom--atom interactions that can be engineered through externally applied light fields. However, this approach is limited to…
We study the impact of Rydberg molecule formation on the storage and retrieval of Rydberg polaritons in an ultracold atomic medium. We observe coherent revivals appearing in the retrieval efficiency of stored photons that originate from…
We show that very large nonlocal nonlinear interactions between pairs of colliding slow-light pulses can be realized in atomic vapors in the regime of electromagnetically induced transparency. These nonlinearities are mediated by strong,…
Stopping and regenerating a pair of single-photon pulses at adjacent locations in coherently prepared Rydberg atomic ensembles are significantly affected by their effective interaction mediated by Rydberg excitations, and the similar…
The experimental observation of quantum phenomena in strongly correlated many particle systems is difficult because of the short length- and timescales involved. Obtaining at the same time detailed control of individual constituents appears…
We study a system of three photons in an atomic medium coupled to Rydberg states near the conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency. Based on the analytical analysis of the microscopic set of equations in the far-detuned…
Photons in a nonlinear medium can repel or attract each other, resulting in a strongly correlated quantum many-body system. Typically, such strongly correlated states of light arise from the extreme nonlinearity granted by quantum emitters…
We discuss the basic properties of a recently proposed hybrid light-matter system of strongly interacting photons in an array of coupled cavities each doped with a single two level system. Using the non-linearity generated from the photon…
We propose a method to induce strong effective interactions between photons mediated by an atomic ensemble. To achieve this, we use the so-called stationary light effect to enhance the interaction. Regardless of the single-atom coupling to…
Quantum optics based on highly excited atoms, also known as Rydberg atoms, has cemented itself as a powerful platform for the manipulation of light at the few-photon level. The Rydberg blockade, resulting from the strong interaction between…
Efficient coupling of light to single atomic systems has gained considerable attention over the past decades. This development is driven by the continuous growth of quantum technologies. The efficient coupling of light and matter is an…